La Mediterranee takes over Curly’s Coffee Shop in North Beach

Some North Beach folks mourned the loss of Curly’s Coffee Shop earlier this year, but there’s already some action at the defunct Powell Street storefront.

Popular Middle Eastern joint La Mediterranee has staked a claim to the space, with the hope of opening its fourth Bay Area location (the others are on Fillmore, on Noe and in Berkeley).

Vanick Der Bedrossian — whose father Levon founded La Mediterranee in 1979 — says that they will use the North Beach space as a catering kitchen, since they’ve outgrown catering capabilities at their tiny Fillmore location. They also want to open it as a restaurant, or even just a deli counter, but the city — not the ABC — has proven to be a roadblock in getting a liquor license in the earlygoing. Der Bedrossian says that the space is not zoned for a liquor license, and that it would be difficult to be open for dinner without one.

“We haven’t started the appeal process, but we are going to look into it,” he says. “Even for tenants in good standing, they have no explanation for why.”